


Pool Panic

by froggeh93



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, Gen, Panic Attacks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-13
Updated: 2015-06-13
Packaged: 2018-04-04 05:52:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4127439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/froggeh93/pseuds/froggeh93
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on a post on the imaginingcriminalminds tumblr blog.</p>
<p>You and Gideon share a hotel room while working a case, and when you slip out one night, it does not take him long to notice and he catches up to you.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pool Panic

**Author's Note:**

> This is going to be my first CM fic and wow I hope it’s as good as all the fics I've read before. I saw this person on the blog wanted Gideon helping the reader through a panic/anxiety attack and I have been wanting to write something with him, so... here goes it!

The breeze through the high end hotel room was quite nice for an older man like Gideon, but for a person like you, it was a little too cool. Lately, the chills on your spine had been coming too frequently, even when you were out in the blazing Florida heat. There was something about seeing all these unmoved faces that brought you nightmares and unhappy images whenever you were lying down at night. You could hear the soft breathing of your fellow roommate and upon looking over, you saw the untouched, tranquil expression on his face. How could Gideon sleep so soundly while you were over here replaying the day's events in your head, hoping that you would not next?

Your eyes widened in the darkness of the night. The alarm clock beside your bed read almost one in the morning. You had gotten in bed to sleep at eleven and you had not gotten any sleep. You thought that perhaps you needed to get some air and so you quietly pushed the covers off of your body and snuck out of bed. You grabbed your hotel room key and decided that the pool would be a nice place to relax. It was fenced in and if you needed anything, there was always someone at the front desk to help you, guaranteeing the person at the front desk would not slack on their job. Plus, you had not gotten to visit any pools down in Florida since you had gotten here. Why waste the opportunity?

Sneaking out of the room was easy; you were used to slipping in and out of rooms quietly because of the job. With the door shut, you sighed and made your way down the hallway, going down the stairs and to the pool. The night was pitch black, but the lights inside of the pool were lighting the ground around it up beautifully. A smile hit your face and you tip toed outside when the desk clerk was not eyeing you for being out of your room at one in the morning. As the fresh air of the night brushed along your skin, you made your way over to a lawn chair that was out of place and not put back with the others. Maybe the pool attendant had gotten distracted... but you had gotten lucky.

Just as you sat down, you swore you heard something behind you and your head whipped around to look. The night was scarier than you thought and you were starting to wish you were still back upstairs with Gideon to protect you from someone who might be around. The desk clerk would not be a match for a serial killer, and the more you assumed someone was around, the harder it got to focus on why you really came out here. Your leg shook furiously and you were diverting your eyes from one part of the concrete to another. Your fingers were pulling on the jacket you had gotten before you came out here and pulling it over your chest as if to try and protect yourself, but you knew quite well that your jacket would not save you from a bloodthirsty serial killer. Paranoia had struck you and you wanted to cry.

Your hands went from your jacket to your eyes, pressing your palms into them. This was no time for tears... you had come to the pool to get fresh air and keep yourself from crying when you were inside. Instead, you were on the verge of falling apart and your body was not agreeing with you. Just when you thought you were going to break down, someone called your name and you looked up.

“What are you doing out here?”

There, walking towards you after shutting the door to the hotel, was Gideon. How did he know you were down here? You did not think you did anything wrong, but when you went to speak up, he put his hand up and shook his head, “I’m not here for you to make an excuse.”

“How can you tell I’m going to make an excuse?”

“That tense look in your eyes, [y/n]. Plus, you were shaking before I came out here and now you’ve seemed to relax. Do you trust me that much to protect you from whatever is in those bushes?”

“There is... nothing in those bushes!” you exasperated, but your body language clearly told Gideon that you thought otherwise. Your eyes went from him, to the ground, to the fencing around you, then back to him. He let out a small sigh and sat down beside you, rubbing his eyes under his glasses. “Gideon,” you started.

“[y/n], it’s okay if you’re scared.”

“I’m not scared,” you defended, but the shake in your leg was coming back. Gideon did not help when he mentioned you trusting him enough to save you from whatever was in the bushes. Was he saying that there was something in the bushes, or that you should not trust him to protect you? “I just... I needed fresh air and so I came out here.”

Gideon hummed quietly, leaning forward with his arms on his knees. “Fresh air? I had the window open in our room.”

“More air than that,” you answered practically right away.

“You know I’ve been at this job longer than Hotch has, right?” he started, and you nodded in reply instead of speaking. “Then you should know I can see past that little fib right there. We promised not to profile each other, but anyone can tell that you’re lying by the way you’re shaking your leg,” he continued with his hand reaching out to steady your leg, “and how fast you’re breathing... To top it off, don’t think I don’t see the look on your face every time we get a new victim.”

“Gideon, I...”

“I won’t tell anyone.”

Now you were sighing. Your eyes were permanently diverted away from the man sitting beside you. His hand was still on your leg to keep you from shaking it, but, even in his grasp, it was moving up and down gently. How were you supposed to calm down when you were in the same state as a serial killer? You had done this many times, but it did not get easier each time. Even with all of this on your mind, you were mainly thinking about whether you should admit this to Gideon or try and lie your way through. Judging by how he saw through everything else, you decided it was time to confess.

“I get so paranoid, like, really paranoid. Sometimes, I can’t sleep. It’s worse when I have my own hotel room to sleep in because I get restless and have nightmares. I don’t like it, Gideon, and I’m sorry we had to be in the same room together because now you’re out here doing this and I’m keeping you from sleeping and getting your rest because I’m all worked up over nothing and it’s just stressing me out and I don’t know what I’m supposed to do when I have a job to do but it’s keeping me from sleeping at night and I--”

By now, you were out of breath. Small gasps were coming from your lips and you had your hand to your chest. Gideon knew what was going on and so he grabbed hold of your shoulders, telling you to calm down in a gentle voice. He was counting in increments of five; one through five was for breathing in and six through ten was for breathing out. You breathed with his counting, staring into his eyes to try and find something to help calm yourself down. He instructed you not to move and you listened. Instead, you sat still, breathing in and out through your stomach like he also instructed you to do. Everything was dizzy and you did not want to be here. You did not want to be investigating homicides and being unable to sleep...

...but as you were finally getting your breathing back on track, you were starting to think that you could do this. Maybe you could overcome it. If you could calm down from a panic attack in so little time, then you could remember that this job was nothing to freak out over.

While you were steadying your breathing, Gideon let his hands slide down your arms and off of them. He smiled at you for the first time in awhile and said, “You have potential, you just need to learn to keep it under control. I trust you. Remember all of those lives we saved and all of those bad guys we put away?”

You felt as if Gideon was talking to you like you were his grandchild. With a roll of your eyes and a steady breath, you said, “Yes, I remember.”

“Then why don’t you come back upstairs so you can sleep instead of give yourself more reasons not to sleep?”

You took one last big breath of fresh air and gave Gideon a soft smile. How he managed to calm you down so easily like that, you did not know... but if he believed in you, well, it was about time you did too.

As the two of you stood up, Gideon put a hand on your upper back and said, “Don’t you trust me to save you from the bad guys in the bushes?”

All you could do was give him a soft laugh. “Yeah, I trust you.”


End file.
